Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Liechtenstein and from Philadelphia.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1961 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Cairo and Accra.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Tokyo kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971 at the first Big Star practice in a loft in Memphis.
I was working on the 808 sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing the Normal to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Crocodile.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Bang on a Can All-Stars. All the underground hits.
All Donald Byrd tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Neu! record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a theremin and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Youth Brigade record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a mellotron.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a güiro.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Roxy Music,
Sugar Minott,
Deepchord,
DJ Style,
Pharoah Sanders,
John Foxx,
Ronan,
Neu!,
Reuben Wilson,
the Slits,
Procol Harum,
Dorothy Ashby,
Fifty Foot Hose,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Hasil Adkins,
Khruangbin,
Tears for Fears,
Visionaries,LMNO, T- Love & Iriscience,
Cameo,
Banda Bassotti,
The Fuzztones,
The Knickerbockers,
The Tremeloes,
Grey Daturas,
Ultravox,
cv313,
The Cramps,
Tom Boy,
Todd Terry,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Bobby Womack,
The Alarm Clocks,
Delon & Dalcan,
The Velvet Underground,
The Seeds,
Eve St. Jones,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Sparks,
Anakelly,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk,
Funky Four + One,
Inner City,
Sam Rivers,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra,
The Raincoats,
Magazine,
The Pop Group,
Talk Talk,
Bill Near,
Bush Tetras,
Babytalk,
Dark Day,
X-102,
Theoretical Girls,
Bill Wells,
The Selecter,
the Human League,
Pet Shop Boys,
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282,
Sonny Sharrock,
Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Cecil Taylor.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.